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If nuclear fusion were to become useful for residential heating, could the plasma be useful for fake fireplaces? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by JoshuaSlowpoke777@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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When I say “fake fireplace”, I mean something like those structures fueled by fossil methane that produce flame and heat but obviously don’t burn actual wood

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[–] skarn 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Plasma for fusion is at insane temperature and pressure to make fusion possible, to overcome the repulsive force that keeps protons apart by sheer velocity of the colliding nuclei. So you wouldn't have that kind of plasma in a fireplace generally. But you can get room temperature plasma today without fusion, look up plasma balls... That could make a cool (but not fire-like) fireplace, if it could be engineered into another form factor

[–] JoshuaSlowpoke777@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, maybe it would make more sense to just hook up an electrical mimic-fireplace to a fusion reactor’s electrical output, than to use the actual helium plasma exhaust to mimic flames, come to think of it.

[–] skarn 1 points 6 months ago

I've seen some fake fireplaces that use steam and lights to look like fire, you could use steam from waste heat from the fusion reactor?